Kurama
by Ambariel
Summary: A character sketch of Kurama, from the point of view of a passerby on the street who knows more than they probably should. My first Yu Yu Hakusho fic.


Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho isn't mine, and I am making no money off of this.

Kurama

You see him? No, him over there across the street, the one with the red hair. Yes, him. 

He's something to look at, isn't he? Hard to miss even in a crowd, with that hair and all. And such a lovely face. A lot of people think he's a girl at first, what with the huge emerald eyes, pale skin, long hair, and all. Especially the hair. It's lovely, isn't it? Long, soft, a deep rich shade of red—almost crimson, really. Someone described it to me as blood silk once, I think, and it seems to fit perfectly. I can tell you, a lot of girls definitely envy his looks. And most of them are dying to date him, too.

He looks rather gentle, doesn't he? Slim and not too tall, tiny smile on his face as he walks down the sidewalk. Don't be fooled by that exterior. He's deadlier than a madman with an automatic. No, check that. He's deadlier than the entire army, tanks, bombers, and all. He's incredibly smart.

Really, he is incredibly smart. His entire life looks perfect—he is beautiful, all the girls are crazy over him, he has a loving mother and stepfather, and he gets perfect grades at school. What more could you want?

Some people think it's weird, though, how he doesn't really seem to have too many friends. He could be the most popular person around; he already sort of is. Someone even started a fanclub for him. I guess the polite and distant thing is kind of attractive to people. He's never cold, you know, not to anyone, just cool and calm. He never gets mad or even ruffled. Which makes it even stranger when you realize that the people he would probably come closest to calling friends are both juvenile delinquents who get into fights all the time and constantly skip school. But I won't get into that right now. 

Oh, you want to know what the whole deadly thing has to do with this perfect schoolboy with the perfect life? You really want to know how this boy, slender and perhaps sixteen years old, can be more deadly than, as I said before, "the entire army, tanks, bombers, and all"? Fine then, I'll tell you. But don't anyone—this is a secret he keeps from most of the world (this world, anyway), and it wouldn't be good if it got around.

This is one of those things that no one thinks is real, but is actually a lot truer than they realize. You see, there are actually three worlds—the Ningenkai, the Reikai, and the Makai. Ningenkai is where we are right now, the human world. Reikai is the Spirit World, where souls go to be judged after they die. And Makai…Makai is the Demon World.

Makai is a very nasty place. There, the essential law for survival is: kill, or be killed. If you can't kill, you hide, you run, you outsmart, you betray, you do anything to ensure your own survival. There, youkai of every shape, form, and degree of power roam. And in the Makai there was once a silver kitsune, a fox-spirit, by the name of Youko Kurama. This Youko Kurama was at the top of the Makai, as the best thief and leader of a group of powerful youkai. If there was a trinket of any beauty or power, he had probably had it at one time or another and then thrown it away out of boredom. He was cruel, he was merciless, he was calculating, he was beautiful. Perhaps the most dangerous combination possible. He never hesitated to betray or to kill. Even in the Makai, where death is commonplace and unremarkable, he was infamous for his cruelty, and even feared. Then one day, he somehow ran into a hunter he couldn't defeat, and so he nearly got killed.

Nearly is the key word here. Instead of dying, he transferred his soul, mind, and memories into the body of an unborn human child in the Ningenkai to live there until he regained his power.

You get it yet? Do I really have to spell it out for you? Fine then. Youko Kurama grew up for a second time in the form of a human boy named Minamino Shuuichi, who had hair the color of blood and eyes the shade of emeralds. Now do you get it?

Yeah. Exactly. That sweet-looking boy across the street over there is a millennia-old demon. Shocking, ain't it.

It doesn't really matter whether or not you tell the world, you know. No one would believe you. After all, in this day and age, no one believes in demons, or kitsune, or for that matter, anything supernatural. Except that if you do tell, he will find out, and he will kill you. He may care for one or two humans now, but there's nothing that's going to stop him if he decides he wants you dead. Fifteen years can't erase habits of a thousand years or more. And it's questionable if he even cares for those one or two humans.

You see? He's looking at us now. Like I said, he has lovely emerald green eyes, doesn't he? And you see, he's holding a rose. It's one of his best weapons, partly because no one suspects a rose of being deadly. I won't tell you how. 

I know it's far, but can you see the golden glimmer in his eyes? Even through the perfect mask and the perfect act, sometimes a tiny hint of Youko Kurama shines through. None of them are obvious, and no one notices unless they already know who he was in the past. And sometimes not even then.

Youko Kurama, Minamino Shuuichi, Kurama…No one really knows him. Know about him, maybe, but they don't know him. Even if he let them, they could never really understand him; they haven't lived for millennia like he has.

He's moving on, now, pretending to be just another human in a crowd of humans. But if you ever see him again, be careful. Under the thin layer that is Minamino Shuuichi, Youko Kurama still waits.

A/N: Well, here it is. My first Yu Yu Hakusho fic. Partially inspired by Kiti's "3:00 AM"; please review!


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